I don’t get mail like this on my Gmail account, but every once someone like Mr. Patrick K. Chan, Chief Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Hang Seng Ltd. Bank in Honk Kong makes it past my Hotmail spam filter.

I realize that phishing is serious business and some of the scams are quite convincing, but this one was just laughable. Any email that starts like this is going to be good:

Good Day,

Greetings to you please do not be surprise by my mail to you as all information contained is real which you will find out for yourself that is why I need your co-operation of which I am rest assured that I will get from you. You should be aware that this mail did not come to you by mistake but rather, meant for you as this project would be mutually benefiting to the both of us. I must advice that you keep this very confidential to yourself and do not disclose it to anyone.

Now I didn’t think I knew Mr. Chan, so it was reassuring to see that his email in my inbox was not an accident and that he had actually sought me out personally for this business deal.

Apparently before the Iraqi war got in a full swing, Mr. Aadheam Ali was a successful merchant and personal client of Mr. Chan. Mr. Ali bought 18 Million Euros worth of bonds, and upon maturity, the bank tried to contact him but found out that he and his whole family had been murdered in a “missile bomb blast.”

Mr. Chan did his due diligence to discover that Mr. Ali never declared a “NEXT OF KIN” and he’s had a lawyer prepare a document that will legally turn my into Mr. Ali’s next of kin so that I can inherit the 18 Million Euros. If nobody claims the money, then:

at the expiration 4 years the funds will revert to the ownership of the Hong Kong Government if nobody applies to claim the funds as the(NEXT OF KIN), this of which is very unjust as the Government will cease the funds and use for themselves and do not account for anything good from such Funds.

Mr. Chan feels that this is unjust, so I should step forward to claim the money, but not tell anyone. In return for all the effort he’s put forth to track me down and for the use of his attorney, all that Mr. Chan wants is a negotiable percentage of the 18 Million Euros. Best of all Mr. Chan guarantees that there is no risk involved. How can I pass this up? This is the deal of a lifetime!